A few days after the Eastern Japan Earthquake, I had a phone call from my friend, the potter Nancy Elizabeth Fuller from Aberdeenshire. She said that she wanted to help Japanese potters who had been badly affected by the earthquake and the tsunami on 11th March. I had been thinking about it, but had not actually done anything concrete. Her phone call has prompted me to take action.
In an ideal world, we would like to help everyone in need, but we felt this was one way we could make an effective contribution to the relief effort in Japan.
There is no doubt that Japanese potters in the affected areas will face a long struggle to rebuild their kilns and to regain the confidence to stand on their own two feet. Our wish is to try and support them until they are ready to start work and wood-fire again.
Mashiko, thanks to the Hamada-Leach connection, has become a Mecca for western potters and has already attracted the pottery world’s attention. The Leach Pottery in St Ives quickly responded by setting up the Mashiko Earthquake Appeal whilst in Mashiko itself, Ken Matsuzaki has announced the creation of the Mashiko Potter Fund. I sincerely hope that Mashiko will resume normality within a few years.
For my part, I would like to help potters in lesser known pottery areas in the Tohoku and Kanto regions. I have been to Kasama in the Ibaraki Prefecture a few times with my late father. There, we came across some 120 potteries and showrooms. I also once travelled to northern Japan in search of old pots in Tohoku. Amongst my favourites were Aizu-Hongou, Souma and Tate-no-Shita from Fukushima Prefecture, Tsutsumi from Miyagi Prefecture and Kokuji from Iwate Prefecture. I do not want to see these potteries disappear. (see slideshow for beautiful old pots from Eastern Japan).
To help these potters, we have this blog for communication and a new website (www.kamataki-aid.com) under construction will be up and running very soon, where people will be able to exchange ideas about helping potters in Japan. The idea is to start the support process as soon as possible and to continue with it until we are reassured that the potters we are helping can fire their rebuilt kilns again. I would like to send messages to encourage them so that they regain the confidence to carry on their wood-firing tradition.
Please come and check the development on our blog.. (G.K.)

Dear U.K. Potters,
I received Email from Kimishima san.
That a large earthquake is predicted to come in the future.
Fukushima nuclear power plant is a serious condition.
Thanks for your support of potters from the United Kingdom.
I’d like to tell many potters living in the Tohoku, Kanto your support.